Evacuation

Spain ceded Florida to England in 1763, and Fort Mose residents departed with other colonists for Cuba. During Fort Mose's final years, life on the frontier grew more difficult as constant attacks by English and Indian raiding parties drove residents to seek protection each night inside St. Augustine's fortified walls. The English capture of Havana in 1762 sealed the fate of Florida's Spanish settlements, and the peace treaty ending the Seven Years' War called for Spain to transfer Florida to England in return for the more valuable island of Cuba. Rather than face an uncertain life under English rule, Fort Mose residents joined the exodus of over 3,000 Spanish colonists to Cuba, where life began again for these frontier warriors and their families. Whether any Fort Mose residents later returned to Florida remains unknown, though historians have found documents in Cuba that may reveal the answer and further research is needed.

St. Augustine, Florida · United States